The Public Defender has addressed Mr. Irakli Garibashvili, the Minister of Internal Affairs with a recommendation to assess legality of dismissal of Major Omar Jokhadze from his position at the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Mr. Omar Jokhadze was dismissed from the position of the Head of Kvemo Kartli Expert-Forensic Department of Expert-Forensic Main Division of the Ministry of Internal Affair of Georgia on March 7, 2007.

Examination of the materials provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs reveals that Mr. Omar Jokhadze was dismissed from his position by the Acting Minister of Internal Affairs (Deputy Minister) Mr. Leval Gvazava, based on resolution made by the General Inspection Department.

The General Inspection Department has conducted an internal investigation based on a report of the Chief Expert of Narcotic and Pharmacological Substances Expertise Department, Forensics Group of Kvemo Kartli Expert-Forensic Department of Expert-Forensic Main Division of the Ministry of Internal Affair of Georgia, Police Corporal, L. Mzhavanadze.

* On February 3, 2007, in a restaurant, on a wedding of a co-worker, a verbal dispute took place between L. Mzhavandze and his immediate supervisor, Omar Jokhadze. During this dispute Mr. Omar Jokhadze verbally insulted L. Mzhavandze.

As a result, the General Inspection Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has ruled that Mr. Omar Jokhadze had committed a disciplinary offense prescribed by the N217 Order of the Minister on Internal Affairs on Approving the “Disciplinary Code of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia”, and an appropriate sanction – dismissal from the position in the Ministry of Internal Affairs – was applied.

However, according to the same legal act, an employee could have been dismissed from the position held only if the character and severity of disciplinary offence, past operation and reputation of the employee made it unreasonable for the offender to continue employment in the Ministry of Internal Affairs system. In addition, when applying the disciplinary sanction, character and severity of the administrative offence, its consequences and circumstances, as well as personal characteristics and past achievements of the offender should have been taken into account.

The General Inspection Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was required to “assess all relevant circumstances of the case and base its decision on evaluation and cross-referencing of these circumstances”. In this case, the General Inspection Department did not assess all of the relevant circumstances of the case. Specifically, the resolution provides the statements of witnesses who confirm the fact of verbal insult of Mr. Mzhavanadze by Mr. Jokhadze, but does not provide evaluation of other statements by different co-worker, that state that the insult had not taken place.

In addition to that, an eligible official of an administrative body, while conducting an administrative procedure, on the stage of assessment and cross-referencing of relevant circumstances of the case and providing written justification, was required to identify all factual circumstances of the case that were essential to promulgation of an administrative legal decree, as the administrative body was acting within it discretional jurisdiction. In addition, when applying the disciplinary sanction and dismissing Mr. Omar Jokhadze from his position, the Acting Minister of Internal Affairs did not justify how the actions of Mr. Omar Jokhadze constituted an unethical act aimed at discrediting the institution.

It is evident that by contradicting the requirements of the law and neglecting factual reasons, the administrative body adopted an unjustified decision, which according to part 2 of the Article 60 of the General Administrative Code of Georgia constitutes bases for nullification of the administrative decree.

Therefore, the resolution of the General Inspection Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia and the order of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia regarding dismissal of Major Omar Jokhadze do not comply with the legal requirements prescribed by the Georgian legislation and violate rights of the applicant.